THE MARKET Selling builds up

Press, 2 July 1986, Page 37

THE MARKET Selling builds up

The New Zealand sharemarket continued to come under selling pressure yesterday, although situation stocks made the trend look better than it really was. The Barclays index was almost unchanged, easing 0.08 points to 2721.76. For the second day running the wider-based Reserve Bank index was not available. Rises were ahead of falls, 81 to 63, but turnover was down slightly, 6.5 million shares, worth $11.3M. Mr Tony NorbertMunns, the operating partner for Egden Wignail and Company, a Christchurch sharebroker, said yesterday that the gains by situation stocks had held the Barclays index up. The sharp jump by L. D. Nathan to 600 c after the earlier announcement of it offering two shares for every Mace share, as it attempted to buy back Mace, suggested defensive tactics by Nathan’s. Higher interest rates and the rising exchange rate had helped slow trading down, and this trend was expected to continue during the rest of the week, he said. Mr Warren Cavanagh, a

client advisor for Buttle and Company, an Auckland broker, said that the return of funds to the market from the recent Bell-BHP take-over and from the corporate activity by Rainbow in Rothmans and Dominion Breweries was offsetting the drain of issues from Chase and Fletcher Challenge. A lot of interest was also being shown in Queenstown Resorts, and the mining boards were drawing in buyers with the attention on Southern Petroleum and its Tariki No. 1 well, plus the possibility of restructuring by Goliath and Cue Energy, he said. Among the market leaders, L. D. Nathan rose a further 40c to 600 c, after trading between 560 c and 620 c, in reaction to its Mace bid. Mace, in turn, jumped 50c to 1170 c. Brierley lost 4c to close at 584 c, after trading between 580 c and 597 c. Chase fell a further 12c and Equiticorp Bc. Industrial issues were also mixed. Fletcher Challenge firmed 2c to 400 c on a quiet turnover, Carter Holt was steady at 425 c, and NZI Corporation

lost 3c to 185 c. Ceramco stood out on a 20c loss, but Cromwell gained 60c to 900 c on the news that the company would become part of Wellesley Holdings. Smart Group, another property company, also firmed 10c to 370 c, on the report that it now held 70 per cent of Williams Property. Queenstown Resorts continued to attract North Island buyers, the issue closing at its high of 195 c for a 17c gain, after selling as low as 175 c. Powercorp and Saudicorp were also in demand. Baycorp joined the boards yesterday, the 100 c shares closing at 105 c. The other three new issues, which were listed, on Monday, had a mixed day. Richmond gained sc, Terra Firma lost 10c, and Verona Corporation fell 25c. On the mining boards, Goliath lost 4c to 22c as speculation in the former West Coast goldminer died down, and Southern Petroleum firmed 1c to 25c. The Barclays mining index was also marginally down, losing 0.81 points to 182.28. Share tables, sales, page 3B.